Allen on individual variation in the genus <I>Elaniea</I>

(1)

i8go.] Recent Literature.

3§S Temm.);

(9) Formicivora griseigula Lawr., which proves to be

"an immature

Thryothorus coraya (Gin.)"; (10) Peristera mondetouraBon., from Bogota.

—

^R.R.

Allen on Individualand SeasonalVariation in the

Genus

Elainea.*

—

While thefamilyTyrannidae has been generallyrecognized as perhaps the most difficult to study ofall the large distinctively

American

bird groups, thegenus Elaineaisadmitted to he its most perplexing genus.

Inworking upthevery extensive'SmithCollection'ofbirdsfrom Chapada, MattoGrosso, Brazil,Mr. Allen found himself confrontedbythe notvery pleasant orpromising task of

naming

aseriesof 129specimens

"from

an area ofabout five miles radius," representing several species,but

how many

only the most patient investigation could determine.

The

chief difficulty laywith specimens belongingto thepagatia-albiceps group, ot

which, fortunately, no less than 116 specimens were present; but this richness of material forawhileprovedrather an embarrassment than an aid. a large proportion of thespecimens being "referableto the true E.

pagana

of authors, anda still larger

number

towhat is

commonly

recog- nizedasE.albiceps, whilethegreatbulk of the series"was

"made

up of specimens variously intermediate between these two forms." Mr. Allen found itdesirable, "inorder to satisfactorilydetermine the relationships ofthe puzzlingbirds represented in the

Chapada

series," to bring together as

much

^materialaspossible; consequently,the Elaineas of the National

Museum

collection

(numbering

about 200specimens), the Boston Society of Natural History, and the

Museum

of Comparative Zoology in

Cam-

bridge,were borrowedfor the purpose. Afterpatient study ofthismate- rialMr. Allen was enabled toreach definite conclusions,

some

of which were probably noless surprisingtohimselfthan toothers

who

have read hisexcellent paper.

"The Chapada

series ofElaineareferable to the E.

pagana-albiceps group," says Mr. Allen "presentsa wide range of variation,notonly in sizeand coloration,but especiallyin the size and form ofthebill.

Were

therefewerspecimens, representingthe

same

range of variation,but with

most

of the 'intermediates'leftout,itwould be quite ei>v to divide the series into several apparently well-marked species, and nothard to find

names

for

them among

the so-called speciesalready described. Especiallywouldthis be thecase werethespecimensgathered froma wider geographicalarea,with the leadingforms

more

orlesslocal- ized.

As

^{the case} ^stands,^however, ^the ^specimens âreâll ^fromâ ^single

very limited locality,and thegaps between the extreme formsare

com-

pletelyfilled by specimens presenting every intermediate phaseof variation. Besides, the variationsinanyotherfeature,

—

as inthe formof the bill, in general size, the relative length of the outer primaries, or the relative length of

wing

totail,

—

^are^found^not ^tobe correlated with varia-

*RemarksonIndividualandSeasonal Variationin a large series ofElainea from Chapada, MattoGrosso, Brazil,witha Revisionof the speciesofthe restrictedGenus Elainea. Bull.

Am.

Mus. Nat. Hist. Vol. II, No. _3,Article XVIII,Oct. 1889, pp.

183-208.

(2)

3 86

^Recent Literature. [October tions in other features; so that while thespecimens

may

^be

somewhat

arbitrarilydividedinto series on generalsize, oronthe form ofthe bill, the important variations inotherfeatures are not correlated with

them

but presentall sorts ofcombinations of characters. Indeed, division on either size alone or color alone, or exclusively on the form of thebill,

cannotbe

made

satisfactorily, since there is no point at which asepara- tion can bemade."

Part IofMr. Allen's paper isdevoted toageneral discussion ofindivi- dual variation, with special reference, of course, to the genus Rlainea and the

Chapada

specimens in particular. Part ^II consistsofareview of the species and subspecies, based onthe material examined, the

"E.

pagana-albiceps group" receiving

most

attention.

Of

E.

pagana

several subspecies are recognized: E.

pagana

(Licht.) proper from Eastern South America, north toTrinidad; E.

pagana subpagana

from Central America and Mexico; E.

pagana ma

rtinica (Linn.)fromthe Antilles andCozumel, ^to which Mr. Allen refersE. cinerascens Ridgw. from Old Providence; and E.

pagana

albieeps (D'Orb.

&

Lafr.) from "the

An-

dean region, from

Colombia

and Ecuador southward, including Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, theextreme southern part ofBrazil,and theregion thence southward to thestraits ofMagellan." RegardingtheAntillean form, Mr. Allen notes that "birds fromdifferent islands present

much

variation,"andthat "it isprobablethat large series fromdifferent islands,

when

compared, will be found to present slight average differences, as in case of other birds of similar distribution"; but he adds that at presentlackof material renders an attempttodiscriminate such forms im- practicable

We

trust the necessary material

may

soonbe placedin Mr.

Allen's hands,inorder that he

may

be able to complete the

work

which he has so ablybegun.

—

R. R.

Allen ontheMaximilian

Types

of South

American

Birds.

—

In apaper of 68 pages, Mr. Allen has givenacomplete list of the Maximilian types of South

American

birds in the

Museum

of Natural History,

New York

City,*the

names

of Maximilian's

new

(actualorsupposed) speciesbeing cited under their equivalent current names, the orderofarrangement being thatof Sclaterand Salvin's'Nomenclator

Avium

Neotropicalium.'

The

catalogue has to do with "only the South

American

birds, and

more

especially with the types of the species describedas

new

by the Prince in his 'Reise nach Brasilien'and 'Beitrage zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien,'" inwhich works "about160 speciesweredescribedasnew, of which about three fourths are still represented in the Maximilian Collection by the original or 'type' specimens." Altogether about 1S3 Maximilian

names

arediscussed, the list including others beside the spe- cieswhich he describedasnew.

The

whole

number

arearranged,atthe endof the paper (pp. 273-276), in a

most

convenientand useful 'Con-

*

On

theMaximilianTypesofSouth American BirdsintheAmerican

Museum

of NaturalHistory. Bull.Am.Mus.Nat. Hist,,Vol.II,No.3.ArticleXIX, December, 1889,pp. 209-267,